The Catalan public finance institution is set to be an active participant in the congress of SMEs and entrepreneurs, to be held at the Montjuïc trade fair on 1-2 July. ICF sponsors the “Funding Market” space, will have a stand in the exhibition area and has organised a number of presentations based on the experience of the companies and entrepreneurs that have successfully implemented their projects thanks to the institute's financial backing.
Institut Català de Finances (ICF) will play an active role in the fifth edition of Biz Barcelona, the congress for SMEs and entrepreneurs taking place on 1-2 July at the Montjuïc trade fair, with the slogan “Speed up your business”.
This year the congress has increased its offering in order to reach a broader range of companies, and has created two distinct areas within the congress: Biz Emprèn (for entrepreneurs) and Biz Pimes (for SMEs), with a range of varied and specific activities for each segment. More than 220 speakers will visit Biz, and there will be more than 143 presentations and workshops, as well as 26 networking activities, all focused on solutions for enterprise, innovation, opening new markets, internationalization and growth, as well as on securing funding in order to make business projects work.
For the second year running, ICF is sponsoring the space entitled “Funding Market”, where businesses and entrepreneurs can get to know and contact the various sources of funding on offer in the market today, and find investors willing to invest in their projects.
The ICF, the Catalan public financial institution, will also have its own stand in the congress's exhibition area (Pavilion 1, Montjuïc trade fair) where it will offer visitors advice on the various financial products and instruments it offers companies to fund enterprise, innovation, internationalization and growth initiatives. At the 2014 edition, the ICF interfaced with more than 200 businesses and entrepreneurs, informing them of the various funding solutions it can offer to make their business projects work.
Among its range of products are a specific funding line for investments, which also covers working capital requirements; “Pymes 10”, which offers guaranteed loans to SMEs; a funding facility for the social and cooperative economy; and one for use in increasing capital.
With regard to conferences and workshops, the ICF has organised three lectures focused on the first-hand experience of three start-ups and two small businesses that received the institute's financial backing to create and/or consolidate their businesses and make them grow.
On 1 July at 12pm at Biz Pimes ICF's guest will be company Plásticos Compuestos, which will describe how it funded its growth. Under the title “Capital to grow: when, how and where can I find it?”, this Catalan company's CEO will explain how they managed to diversify their sources of finance and how they funded their growth and internationalization through venture capital, from the ICF and La Caixa working in partnership.
On 2 July at 12pm, also at Biz Pimes, the ICF has invited three companies to discuss “Cofinancing: a way to diversify risk and multiply resources”. At this presentation, food enterprise Gelatines Juncà and two start-ups, Mammoth Hunters and Homuork, will describe their experience in securing funding and tell how public-private co-financing has enabled them to make their projects work. Mammoth Hunters produces an app that offers a training and nutrition programme based on paleotraining and the paleo diet. Homuork focuses on creating massive open online courses (MOOCs) for enterprises (online education in a corporate environment).
Finally, on 2 July at 1pm, at Biz Emprèn, start-up Beabloo (which has just secured an international funding package worth €10 million) will describe how they found funding in the early days thanks to the ICF, in a presentation entitled “How I secured funding for my project".